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Pinkie Brown
| spouse = Rose Brown | children = | relatives = }} Pinkie Brown is a fictional character, the main character and antihero in Graham Greene's 1938 novel Brighton Rock. Character overview In the novel, Brown is portrayed as an up-and-coming gangster, the teenaged leader and enforcer of a powerful gang in the Brighton underworld. A violent sociopath, he brutalizes and murders people, even his own henchmen, without compunction or remorse. In the beginning of the novel, he kills Fred Hale, a chronic gambler who assisted a rival gang in dispatching Brown's predecessor; that crime sets the rest of the story in motion. Brown is depicted as severely neurotic. He abhors sex; as a child, he spied on his parents making love, and was both aroused and disgusted by it. He is obsessed with the concept of sin, his idea of which is shaped by his Roman Catholic upbringing, and believes himself to be pure evil. He has no friends, and has nothing but contempt for women, thinking of them as the embodiment of weakness. He is not without normal desires, however — he wonders what it would feel like to love someone, and his phobia of sex does not prevent him from being as preoccupied with losing his virginity as any other teenage boy. Although clearly named by the other characters, within the narrative Pinkie is never referred to as such; he is only ever called "the Boy". Conflicts with other characters Brown is faced with two main conflicts throughout the course of the novel, presented by the two other main characters: Ida Arnold, a local cafe owner who wants to bring him to justice because it's "the right thing to do"; and Rose, a young waitress at Snow's cafe who falls in love with him. Brown becomes infatuated with Rose and brags about murdering Hale in order to impress her; he eventually conducts a civil marriage with her to make sure she doesn't go to the police. It is a dysfunctional union from the start: He degrades and abuses her, and is sexually inadequate. The only common ground they have is their religion; they are both Roman Catholics, and therefore feel superior to the irreligious Arnold. While Arnold talks of "right" and "wrong", Pinkie and Rose discuss "good" and "evil", which they both feel is much more significant. Arnold appeals to Rose to end the marriage, but Rose refuses, even though she knows deep down that her husband is a monster; a devout Catholic, she sees his abuse as a punishment for "living in sin", and fantasizes about going to Hell with him. By the novel's conclusion, Arnold has unraveled Brown's gang and brought the police down upon him. Cornered, Brown tries to commit suicide with Rose in the nearby moors, but Arnold arrives just in time to save Rose. Brown attacks Arnold with a vial of vitriol, which he accidentally splashes in his own face. As he reels from the pain, he loses his footing and falls from his death from a cliff side. In other media Brown was portrayed by Richard Attenborough in John Boulting's [[Brighton Rock (1947 film)|1947 adaptation of Brighton Rock]], and by Sam Riley in Roland Joffe's 2010 adaptation. See also *''Brighton Rock'' *Graham Greene Category:Brighton Rock characters Category:Drama film characters Category:Characters in British novels of the 20th century Category:Fictional Roman Catholics Category:Fictional English people Category:Fictional antiheroes Category:Fictional gangsters Category:Fictional murderers Category:Fictional sociopaths Category:Fictional characters introduced in 1938